In a discover session of the iSCSI (Internet Small Computer System Interface), a host apparatus obtains information on a target apparatus to be accessed (target information) using the SendTargets command of the iSCSI interface (refer to Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2010-79626). It should be noted that the iSCSI standard and the like is defined in the RFC 3720.
The target information specifically includes the iSCSI Names, the IP addresses, the TCP port information, and the Target Portal Group Numbers of CA (channel adapter) ports in a target apparatus. It should be noted that the Target Portal Group Numbers are logical numbers of the respective CA ports and are arbitrarily set to the respective ports. For example, a different value may be set for each CA, or a single value may be set to two or more CAs for handling these CAs as a single group. A target apparatus is an RAID (redundant arrays of inexpensive disks) apparatus, for example.
An RAID apparatus provides redundancy by including multiple CMs (controller modules), for example, wherein each CM includes one or more CAs (channel adapters).
FIG. 23 is a diagram schematically illustrating a configuration of a conventional storage apparatus; An RAID apparatus 500 is connected to a host apparatus 510 via a communication network 511, and provides the host apparatus 510 with storage regions.
In the example depicted in FIG. 23, the storage apparatus 500 includes two CMs, i.e., a CM 0 and a CM 1. The CM 0 includes a CA 0 and a CA 1 and the CM 1 includes a CA 2 and a CA 3.
The CM 0 includes CA information 501-0, and the CM 1 includes CA information 501-1. The CA information 501-0 includes target information on the CA 0 and the CA 1 in the CM 0, and the CA information 501-1 includes target information on the CA 2 and the CA 3 in the CM 1.
In other words, in the RAID apparatus 500, a CM contains target information about one or more CAs provided in that local CM, and the target information is sent in response to a request (SendTargets) from the host apparatus 510.
For example, if a SendTargets command is sent from the host apparatus 510 to the CA 0 in the CM 0, the CM 0 that receives the SendTargets command notifies the host apparatus of the target information about the CA 0 that received the command.